A Special Order in McDonald’s

Managers might face different problems and situation many times. The ways they solve problems might affect their companies. I was given an assignment which is to choose a McDonald’s restaurant to order a special order, and watch the management process.

In April 12, 7:50pm, after I finished my classes and took the train back to home, I went to a McDonald’s restaurant that near by my home, where is located in 40-18 Main Street, Flushing. Because this McDonald is on the crowded Main Street, there are usually so many customers inside. I waited on the middle line and there was only one person in front of me. When the person finished his order, I smiled and walked to front a little, and placed my order. I said to the cashier that I wanted a small hamburger with exactly 4 pickles, and I repeated the exactly 4 pickles again. He said to me with a smile that he took this same order before plus French Fried with no salt. I said to him that I needed the small French Fries well done and with no salt, and I needed the receipt to show this order too. Then he asked another older staff who did not wear uniforms and looked like a manager to put this special order into the computer. The manager asked me what were my order and I had to repeat again. He started to put my order into the computer. After a while, he said that he would make the French Fries with no salt, but no well done, but he would try the best. And then he changed and said that he would do well done, but not “no salt.” I asked him why, but he did not answer me and just continued to finish his job. After he finished the order, he left. The cashier turned over to place the order for other person, and then he give me my special order and told me that it charged me $3.68. I was very surprise when I heard the price. I thought that I should pay $2 plus tax. I asked him why the price is over $3, and a small hamburger and a small order of French Fires were a dollar each. He told me that there was no more dollar menu. After I paid, I checked the recipe. I was really shock that they charged “4 extra pickles” for $0.80, and “take out tax” for $0.30. It told the staffs to complete this special order for 10 minutes. They spent more time to take the order and showed them on the recipe, but they did very fast for preparing the food. I think this is acceptable time wait in a fast food restaurant because they need to do extra work. However, the order was completed incorrectly. When I received I order, I opened the burger and count the pickles, they put 4 exact pickles in it, but there was another pickle inside already, and they did not count, or take it out. I asked the cashier to take one out, but they already charged me the extra pickle.

During this special order, I do not think that they do well in the staff’s management process overall. They do fast for the manufacturing process; they spend more time for technology problem and less time for food preparation. They have very good organization. Every position has a different job liability and connects each other, so they have reasonable time for most orders. However, I do not satisfy with the communications and customer service. In this experience, I had to repeat my order 3 times and I also remained them that I needed 4 exact pickles, but they still gave me “extra” 4 pickles, not “exact” 4 pickles. I also did not understand why they charge that little extra pickles and they did not tell me that they would charge them before I paid. Moreover, they could not satisfy everything that customer’s reasonable needs. The manager did solve the problem, but did not complete correctly. If I were brought in as a consultant to McDonald’s to help them improve their efficiency, I would put a computer which face to customers to show them what they order and the price, so if they do wrong, they could fix the order immediately, and customers have no question and complain for the order.